National women's cricket success inspires new generation of young players to take to the pitch

Summer-Grace Cory's earliest cricket memories involve her father and grandfather.

ABC News: Tom Wildie

For Summer-Grace Cory playing cricket on Saturday mornings is a way of life.

But it hasn't always been that way for the 11-year-old.

Three years ago, Summer and her family moved to Saudi Arabia, where they lived in a compound with a military presence.

Saudi Arabia is a predominantly Muslim country, where girls are often not allowed to play sport.

"Girls couldn't go to soccer games, they weren't allowed into stadiums or go to cricket games or anything," Summer said.

"It kind of annoyed me they weren't allowed to play sports."

But cricket still found its way into Summer's life.

"Sometimes I would wait up in the morning and look out my window and see a few of the army guys having their own little cricket games on the other side of the wall we had, which was kind of cool," she said.

"We used to play on the streets, or we would go up to the unused soccer pitch."

WACA 'shocked' by growth in participation

Now living back in Perth, Summer plays for the Wembley Downs Cricket Club, one of several clubs with teams in the Perth Scorchers Girls League.

It's a competition which has exploded in popularity in recent years, surprising even those charged with growing the game.

"The growth in girls' participation in cricket has been incredible," Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) community engagement manager Roy McNamara-Smith said.

"Over the last couple of seasons we've gone from 15 junior teams in the metropolitan area to well over 100 by the time we get through season 2017/18."

"I think the rate at which it has expanded has probably shocked us a little bit."

According to the WACA about 60,000 girls participate in cricket at school.

On of the schools embracing the sport is Perth's Methodist Ladies College, where cricket is not included in the formal sporting curriculum, but has seen a sharp increase in popularity in the past three years.

"Back in 2014, when we introduced our cricket program, we had just the one team," head of sport Jon Smedley said.

"Then two the next year, two the following year, and this year we actually entered four teams.

"We have two junior teams and two senior teams into the competition, so we can definitely say we've seen an increase in participation."

The school has also increased the amount of cricket played during physical education classes.

The rate of participation in schools has cricket associations scrambling to encourage girls into club cricket, which offers a pathway for talented players to rise to the top of the sport.

"For us the biggest challenge over recent years is how do we get those girls from a really great school experience transitioning into community cricket and junior competitions," Mr McNamara-Smith said.

"At the moment we have under-13s, under-15s and under-18s which provides a really great platform for girls to continue to develop their skills, grow in the game and hopefully continue on to premier cricket."